December 11, 2014

Employee Engagement: Is It Worth It?

C’mon. Is it?

There’s a religious fervor to more and more of the writings about employee engagement. It's becoming an echo-chamber of the true believers. Group members shout slogans and quotes at each other, silent cheers and unseen rising fists in the form of likes and favorites.

I do it. I get excited. Yes! He or she is a believer!

I’ve seen it work, I’ve worked in companies where employee engagement was as good as it gets. I’ve led a company where we grew employee engagement to about as good as it gets and I’ve worked at a company where employee engagement, well, it was less than ideal.

The financial returns and our collective careers and the corresponding financial returns reflected all the assumptions about employee engagement. Engaged, they’re good; not engaged, they’re not.

So when I start to write or talk about it, well, I start preaching. I pace, I wave my hands, I point, I ignore my powerpoint slides. I ignore my script. I stream four, five, paragraphs in a row without taking a breath.

But that’s me.

Side note. Y’know way back in high school I completed one of those career assessments. The results showed my top two professions would ‘preachin’ and ‘analyzing.’ My strengths would be showcased as a preacher-man or as a therapist. Insert punchline. So, when I start talking about employee engagement, I understand the emotions and motivations and numbers ... and I start preaching.

But that’s me.

Just taking it on faith or riding the vicarious waves of well-written articles is a sure barrel-ride over the falls. So, don’t. Ask yourself. Is it worth it?

Let’s look at some numbers. Let's look at $500 billion, per year.

Gallup estimates that these actively disengaged employees cost the U.S. between $450 billion to $550 billion each year in lost productivity.

Let's call it $500. $500 billion. That's worth something, right?

Sorta, you may think. I agree. It doesn't answer the three most important questions we ask ourselves all day long.

What's in it for me? - That's $500 billion ... for the whole country. So? What's in it for me?

Why should I care? See above. Why should I care? I can't fix the economy.

Why should I believe? Yeah, who's this Gallup? Where'd they get this number?

Context can help answer those questions.

The U.S. economy is worth about ... $16.3 Trillion. That’s the amount of our Gross Domestic Product or GDP, defined by the US Department of Commerce’s Burea of Economic Analysis as the value of the production of goods and services in the United States, adjusted for price changes. Just so we’re clear. And in 2013 that grand total was $16.3 Trillion. For perspective, China's GDP in 2013 was $9.24 trillion. Link.

That $500 billion is ... is 3.067% of our GDP. Let’s round it to 3.1%.

So, all this excitement about employee engagement's possibilities comes down to 3.1% of our Gross Domestic Product.

So, if we’d found a way in 2013 to create 100% employee engagement our GDP would have grown 7.0% last year. ( Employee engagement’s 3.1% plus the naturally occurring 3.9%.) At that rate our economy doubles in ... less than ten years. Just for context, China's grew at 7.7% and everybody's all freaked out about it, either marveling at their business skills or trembling in their cubicles.

What if our economy grew 7%, instead of the 3.9%, would that do to:

job growth?

your 401K or IRA?

our federal and state budgets?

We might be able to repair our highways and bridges, give teachers a raise, return arts and phys-ed programs to schools ... build a few mass transit systems between cities (creating more jobs.)

our salaries and benefits?

Even this Art major knows it's tricky to equate macro-economic trends with micro-economic trends. Still, I'll ask the question. What if:

your cash flows went up by three percentage points? What are they now? Now add 3 percentage points. Let’s say your cash-flows are 12%. Now make them 15%.

Books I've Read and Recommend

Jackie Huba: Monster Loyalty: How Lady Gaga Turns Followers into Fanaticsa bigger challenge than I predicted. It’s not what to say that challenged me. It’s what NOT to say. I start reading and within 3-4 paragraphs, I’m nodding my head and saying Yes, yes, exactly. Bam. Bam, baby. Yeah, come on. Can I get a witness. Then I want to share verbatim Jackie’s translation of Gaga’s strategy. Here’s why. It’s a strategy with 7 steps that any, ANY, business can execute under its own terms and under its own budget no matter how small or large. Granted, I enjoy reading this strategy as it’s applied to Gaga. And Jackie's a good writer. But, what's really inspiring is understanding how even a car wash could apply this strategy with these 7 steps and find success. You could build a global empire selling gardening mulch if you followed these 7 steps. And you could lower your advertising and marketing budgets, to boot.

Kevin Allen: The Case of the Missing Cutlery: A Leadership Course for the Rising StarYes! Finally a leadership book and author who bring empathy, caring and listening to the front of the leadership room instead of insisting it sit in the back, laughed at or ignored with no champion and certainly no budget to help spotlight its role in creating engaged leaders.
He had me as a reader and fan on the first page of his introduction. Here’s what he wrote:
Years later, when I was made Executive Vice President at McCann Erickson Worldwide ... I came to realize that the gift of human empathy, which had guided me through those early days at Marriott, would allow me to steer literally thousands of people to row in the direction of McCann Erickson’s future.
I’ve learned things the hard way, through trial and error, mostly error. Through it all, I came to realize people follow you because of who you are; because you have come to understand the deep desires and hopes of your people; and because, by connecting with them, you have created a culture and a common cause they believe in.

Chuck Blakeman: Why Employees Are Always a Bad IdeaI love this book. It's true that I say this about every book I review here. And why shouldn't I? Why waste time reviewing a book I don't love.
That being said...Why Employees Are Always a Bad Idea: (and other business diseases of the industrial age) is one of my favorite business books for a long time.
It starts with the title. It's eye-catching, provocative, right? Mentally, it's a head-slap, positing a theorem inside your head then pounding it home with AlwayandBad to let you know you're not getting away; you're going to have your mind changed. Right now.
As I kept looking at the title, tilting my head like a dog - one side to the other - I began to smile. I read a kindred spirit. Here's a rebel, a true disruptor, someone who's willing speak up, take a stand; I like that. I might not agree with what I'm about to read, but his title made me smile without being cloying or clever so I knew I was in for a good ride.

Stephen Lynch: Business Execution for RESULTS: A practical guide for leaders of small to mid-sized firmsI'm an avid reader, always have been. I've read a lot of business books and I’ve led a small business. I recommend you read Business Execution for Results: A Practical Guide for Leaders of Small to Mid-Sized Firms. It is a very, very good book, among the best, most usable business books I’ve read.
As a writer, he does things that make the reading very pleasant, very inspiring, very engaging. Very good.
He offers personal stories, anecdotes, little clips. They’re genuine, sincere, well-organized to capture your attention, engage you in the story that illustrates the next lesson. I found myself thinking...I can relate...I am relating....I see, feel, remember this personally. And Stephen’s writing is very crisp, very concise in taking you from these stories to the principle with each chapter...and as important to the steps you’re going to take to generate the results you want to see. No hitch in the reading flow. VERY nice.